Radio journalist Esther Honig sent her picture to Photoshop experts in 27 different countries for a project she calls Before & After. Keeping the fact that beauty standards are illuminated by Photoshop here in the U.S., she wanted to “examine how these standards vary across cultures on a global level.”
The results (down below) are fascinating. While the results are largely based on the perception of the person doing the Photoshop, that perception is influenced by the nuances of local and global beauty standards. Read More

Sadly, Photoshop exaggeration is old news. “Nobody really looks like that”, you remind yourself every time a commercial flashes an image of an airbrushed-to-“perfection” model. Although, do we as individuals really have any power to change the marketing industry standard?
One father says “yes." Seth Matlins, a former chief marketing officer, has seen his fair share of computer-altered waistlines and falsely whitened skin. Hoping to make a less image-conscious world for his two children, he decided to take a step back from the industry. Read More

When Brooke Birmingham, the blogger behind Brooke: Not On A Diet, was approached by Shape magazine to be part of what they referred to as a weight loss “success story," she saw it as an opportunity to “reach people.” Birmingham, who recently lost 172 pounds, has committed herself to spreading positivity and encouraging diverse women to embrace and love their bodies; in accordance with her convictions, Birmingham proudly wore a bikini while modeling for the photograph she later submitted to Shape. Read More

The pin-up girl occupies a unique space in feminist history; influenced in no small part by aesthetics of Burlesque, the cheesecake images have been labeled everything from “subversive” to “wholesome.” In some ways, the pin-up was the first mass-produced female icon celebrated for her sexuality, taking the place of the more demure, pious upper-middle class ideal of Victorian womanhood.
But the pin-up, like all commercial images of the female body, could be objectifying and limiting in that it pressured women to conform to a rigid standard of beauty. Read More

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The artist’s Maria Raquel Cochez’s impressive body of work is powerfully autobiographical, cataloging her painful struggle with eating disorders, weight loss surgery, and recovery. In her recent photographs, she claims the human right to accept and love her body, promoting body acceptance for all women in the process. Read More